


Takes Your Love to Lift Me Up

by jannika



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-16
Updated: 2012-07-16
Packaged: 2017-11-19 17:17:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/575700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jannika/pseuds/jannika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU in which they all have super powers and Zayn is pretty sure that makes them superheroes, even if Louis says he's wrong. Liam has a secret, Niall can stop time, and Harry wants them to save the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Takes Your Love to Lift Me Up

**Author's Note:**

> I just like when they change the world a little, okay? I wanted them to have magic! I don't know. Superhero canons aren't even my thing, but I decided I needed to write this anyway. Possibly I just wanted Louis to be able to fly. For all of you who continue reading all of these and commenting and encouraging my ridiculous One Direction prolificness. And, of course, for [](http://folkloric-feel.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://folkloric-feel.livejournal.com/)**folkloric_feel** , the Liam to my Zayn.

The night before Zayn's thirteenth birthday, when it's just after midnight so it technically is his birthday already, he's laying in bed trying to decide if thirteen feels any different and wishing that the glass of water he'd left on a table on the other side of his room earlier that night would just sort of float over to his hand without him getting up. He's warm and his bed is soft and he doesn't want to sleep and miss his first few moments of being a teenager but he really doesn't want to walk all the way across the room either, even if his throat is starting to feel dry. He stares at the cup, squinting in the dark and tries to will it over to his hand.

It works.

One second he's staring at the cup and the next there is this warm clicking feeling in his brain and the cup is in his hand. He blinks and sits upright, looking at the cup in hand, afraid to drink it, afraid to do much of anything. His first thought, of course, is that he's dreaming, but the glass is sweating in his hand, and he's pretty sure dreams don't have details like that. His second thought is to try it again, so he puts the cup down on his nightstand and focuses on sheet of paper on his desk- a drawing he'd been working on earlier- and he tries to will that over to his hand like he had with the water.

It works again.

There is that same sort of warm clicking feeling in his brain, and then the paper glides across the room. His third thought (well, really his fourth because for a second he's convinced he's dreaming again) is that he's like Matilda, but then he thinks that's stupid because that's a book and because that little girl is a genius and he's just Zayn and his life is not a book at all. Still, he's certain that things like this don't just happen to people.

He spends the rest of the night trying it over and over again. He can't do it with heavier things- his books only shake a little and after a dozen or so tries with them his head starts to hurt.

During the day he finds he can't do it at all, and for a moment he's afraid all over again that he was dreaming after all, but when he's alone in room later and it works again he thinks maybe he just needs the quiet and the still. That too many people around messes up whatever this thing he can do is.

He doesn’t much sleep for the next few weeks.

**

By his fourteenth birthday he rearranges his room without getting out of bed. It gives him an awful headache, and he still can't do any of it during the day, but he feels like it's progress of some sort. He's tried looking all this up online, but nothing quite matches up. He keeps waiting for something else to happen, but nothing ever does. He feels like there has to be more- he can't just be some kid sitting in his room moving his own stuff around in the middle of the night forever- but everything stays exactly the same.

It's not like he can ask anyone, or say anything, so he just waits and practices and wonders and wishes.

**

Nothing changes for two more years- he's still just sitting in wait- but then one day when he's sixteen he manages to do it during the day, with people around, for the very first time, and it makes him feel like he's more in control than he's ever been. Even if the moment he does it is one of the low points of his life so far. It starts a few months before, the day after his sixteenth birthday, when he gets his first tattoo at a shop a few blocks from his school, a shop that everyone knows doesn't normally bother checking ID. He only planned to get the one, but once he sets foot inside he sort of never wants to leave. Mostly because the tattoo artist, a tall guy named Tyler, looks like he's walked out the dreams Zayn has been trying not to have lately, and Zayn just wants to keep looking at Tyler and keep letting him draw things on his skin forever.

He starts hanging out there all the time. Tyler doesn’t say much, but he doesn't kick Zayn out either, and he always has a cigarette for him and sometimes even a beer. He starts letting Zayn do things after a few weeks, running errands and cleaning shelves and whatever else comes up. After a month he gets a free tattoo out of it all- or possibly he's getting paid in tattoos and beer and cigarettes since at that point it's almost a part-time job.

After that there is a day when the shop is empty and Tyler turns to him and says,

"You're always looking," and Zayn feels himself flush and he looks at the ground and mumbles,

"Sorry," and Tyler says,

"You should do something about it," and Zayn gulps and all of his senses flare because this is an awful idea but he wants it so much, he wants this so much even if he doesn't want it like this. He lets himself be led into an empty room, lets a door be closed, and he trails a hand over skin he's dreamed about and fiddles with a belt buckle and he closes his eyes against the warmth there and the way Tyler's breathing changes and he feels a surge of triumph when Tyler gasps and finishes in his hand. He's rewarded with a beer and slight head nod and he goes home full of fantasies about his tongue in those same places and about what it would be like to be touched back.

It happens three more times. On the fourth time, when Zayn has a hand down Tyler's pants and is working through the words in his head to ask if maybe he could try more, the door bursts open and a startled male voice says,

"Fuck, man, I thought this was the bathroom. You should learn to lock doors."

"This is my shop, who the hell are you?" Tyler says, his inflection hardly changing at all as Zayn straightens up and shoves his hand into his pocket and tries not to die or melt into the floor.

"A paying customer," the guy says, and then, _fuck_ Zayn feels the guy's eyes land on him, and he doesn't look over, can't look over, but he can feel the air in the room change again and the guy says, "Malik? Is this how you pay for your ink?"

"We're not open right now," Tyler says.

"It's two in the afternoon!" the guy says, and now Zayn recognizes his voice as belonging to Ryan, a classmate he's always kind of hated. This is really, really bad.

"Like I said, my shop," Tyler says.

"Whatever, fuck this place," Ryan says. He storms out and Zayn sinks down to the floor, sitting down and burying his head in his hands.

"He goes to my school, and he thinks-" Zayn says, tries to say. Tyler just walks out of the room, leaving Zayn sitting alone.

Zayn seriously considers never going to school again, he thinks maybe he could just live in the tattoo shop, except that he's not actually sure how he'll ever face Tyler again either, so he really has no where to go. He puts on his favorite jacket and his favorite hat and heads to school, hoping against hope that Ryan has caught pneunomia or something overnight. Unfortunately Ryan is standing in the yard, smirking and arms crossed, when Zayn gets there. His face is a mix of disgust and amusement, and Zayn tries not to shrink within himself as he walks and imagines every possible insult being thrown his way.

He approaches, hands in his pockets and scowl on his face, locking eyes with Ryan, mostly because he has no idea at all how to handle this. Ryan's smirk grows and he starts to open his mouth and the insults that come out are even worse than the ones Zayn was thinking and when Ryan raises his voice and starts to attract the attention of other people in the school yard, Zayn just wants to shut Ryan up. He wishes, just for a second, that the chunk of concrete sitting on his side would knock Ryan out like some sort of cartoon character- and then he feels the click in his brain and the warm rush and the piece of concrete is in the air and headed off towards Ryan and-

Zayn swerves it at the last second, even with people yelling and gasping and running towards them, he makes the concrete swerve and hit a tree just beside Ryan instead. It leaves a huge mark, scraping bark as it hits and falls, and Ryan shrinks back and Zayn gets suspended for three days (mostly because no one actually saw Zayn throw it- they all assume he did, but since no one saw they can't actually prove it, and people suggest that it's possible a passing car kicked it up from the road, and Ryan refuses to say anything about the incident to anyone at all, so they seem to be at a loss and they suspend him just for something to do, really) and everyone avoids him after that and he knows they all whisper that he's unhinged and dangerous.

He thinks it's worth it, though, because after that he can move things with his mind whenever he wants, and he's learning to move bigger things all the time, and really, if people want to stay away? Zayn doesn't need them anyway. It's better this way.

**

Every year on his birthday he has this stupid hope that it- whatever _it_ is will finally happen, that something will change. It never happens, though, and on the night before his eighteenth birthday he just sort of gives up and falls asleep at around eleven, because in everything he's ever read these things only happen when you're a kid. He pulls his blankets up and arranges his pillows and tells himself that this year is going to be just like the last one, tells himself that he'll be forty and alone and moving chairs around because he has no one to talk to and nowhere to go. It's a depressing birthday thought, but it puts him to sleep anyway.

A couple of hours later he's awakened by a male voice. A male voice _in his room_ that sounds amused when it says,

"Hello there, sexy, please tell me you're Zayn." Zayn's eyes snap open and he blinks quickly and turns his head toward the source of the voice- and finds a guy about his age sitting on his windowsill. His third-story windowsill. The guy has sparkling eyes and really nice hair and he's grinning in this way that makes Zayn wish he'd just keep on doing it. He tells himself he must be dreaming, that a very attractive guy hitting on him from his windowsill in the middle of the night is like, his subconscious' birthday present to him.

"What?" Zayn says, and his voice sounds hoarse to his ears and his throat is sort of dry in a way that makes this feel a little too real to be a dream.

"You are Zayn, yes?" the guy on his window says. Zayn nods and sort of gulps.

"This is the third floor. And my window was closed. Are you dangerous?" he asks, because even if this is dream he'd like it to be a good one.

"Happy Birthday," the guy says, which answers nothing at all.

"Thanks?" Zayn says. The guy laughs.

"I'm Louis, and I'm not dangerous. Unless you want me to be," Louis says, smirking. Okay, this has to be a dream.

"How did you get up here?" Zayn asks.

"I flew," Louis says. Zayn blinks at him.

"Flew?" he repeats.

"Like your personal Peter Pan," Louis says.

'This is the weirdest dream," Zayn says.

"Not a dream, although I am dreamy. I am here for a very important reason," Louis says.

"Which is?" Zayn asks.

"Ah. You have to show me first," Louis says.

"Show you?" Zayn asks, puzzled. Louis raises his eyebrows, mischievous, and Zayn gets it. The guy did say he'd flown to his window and all.

"Show me," Louis repeats.

"You first," Zayn says, sitting up in bed and crossing his arms.

"What, you think I have a ladder outside your window?" Louis says. Zayn smirks.

"You might," he says.

"Fine," Louis says. He jumps up so he's standing on the window ledge, and then walks in a straight line though the air across Zayn's room, "See? No floor needed," he says.

"Impressive," Zayn says. Louis grins and does a flip in air.

"I know," he says.

"Now you're just showing off," Zayn says, and he sends a pillow flying towards Louis with his mind, "No hands needed," he says.

"Nicely done," Louis says, landing on the floor in front of Zayn's bed.

"I've never shown anyone before," Zayn says, and he knows he's beaming because showing someone else is a huge rush.

"Fun, isn't it?" Louis asks, grinning.

"Yeah," Zayn admits, "are you going to tell me why you're in my room now?"

"To be your personal Peter Pan," Louis repeats, "can I sit?"

"You said that. You didn't explain," Zayn says. Louis throws himself down on Zayn's bed, obviously taking Zayn's lack of answer as permission.

"Ah. Right. I'm kind of shit at this part," Louis says.

"Which is?" Zayn asks.

"I'm not even supposed to be here. I sort of snuck to get you since you'll be in my star," Louis says.

"Excuse me?" Zayn says.

"That didn't make any sense, did it?" Louis says.

"Not really," Zayn says.

"Right. Okay. Zayn Malik, tonight, on the night of your eighteenth birthday I am here to tell you that you are not in fact alone in the world with your gifts. There are other people like you, each with their own gifts and talents, and you have been assigned to a star of five people who will amplify your own gifts as you amplify theirs, you will train and learn and be part of something special and fuck, I hate this official speech, do I have to keep going?" Louis says.

"I'm still sort of lost," Zayn says, "star?"

"That's just what it's called. It just means there will be five of us, there are always five." Louis says.

"Five of who?" Zayn asks.

"Us, you me and three guys who aren't eighteen yet," Louis says.

"Are we like, superheroes?" Zayn asks, frowning a little at the idea of being part of a group of five, since people aren't really his thing. Still, part of him is giddy because something is finally actually happening. There really is something bigger, something more.

"Not quite," Louis says, "it's more like… a society? I was born into all this, my parents met in their star and they stayed up with me on my thirteenth birthday to see what I'd be able to do. Their star is one of the most successful, they go on top secret missions I don't know a lot about."

"So. Like superheroes?" Zayn asks again.

"Nah, no capes or masks or bad guys, no crime fighting, really. At least I don't think. I don't know, I think we'll find out more when we're all together," Louis says.

"But what do we do with it all if we don't use it for anything?" Zayn asks.

"What they tell us to?" Louis says, "I don't know, exactly, but I do know we're going to be really, really powerful."

"How'd you know that?" Zayn asks.

"Because we're so far apart in age- a lot of stars are five people born with in a couple weeks of each other. I've been waiting for you for forever, and I saw on the list that our last guy doesn't turn 18 for like, a year. If they're making us wait it must be for a reason," Louis says.

"We're all guys?" Zayn asks.

"Yeah," Louis says, smirking a little.

"Huh," Zayn says. He doesn't mind, but he wonders if that's the normal way this goes, since Louis had said his parents met in their star. Then again, he's not sure if there is anything normal about people who can fly and move things with their mind and who knows what else, so he let's it go.

"You ready?" Louis asks.

"For what?" Zayn asks.

"To come with me, just for the night, and once a month or so after that, till we get our star and then we move into a training hall," Louis says.

"Come with you where?" Zayn asks.

"Neverland," Louis says, smirking. Zayn sends another pillow at him.

"I'm not sure I like you," Zayn asks, grinning.

"I'm certain you do, and we're going to London. Although I do know a bar called Neverland we could go to another time," Louis says.

"Are we allowed to do things like that?" Zayn says.

"Not at all," Louis says. "It's highly frowned on, actually. We get might get drunk and show our powers around and boring, boring, boring," Louis says.

"You're right, I do like you," Zayn says.

"I know," Louis says, "you ready?"

"How? I don't fly, remember?" Zayn says.

"I'm stronger than I look. You will have to hold my hand, though," Louis says, smirking.

"I can handle that," Zayn says, eyebrows raised.

**

The main hall is always loud and crowded and people zoom around lifting impossibly heavy things and shooting sparks out of their hands and floating in the air. Zayn still isn't sure of all the rules- he still doesn't know quite what he's part of, and sometimes it scares him a little, but it's still better here than anywhere else, and he's excited for the day he can move into a hall and dedicate all his time to this. Louis has assured him there are letters and fake uni stuff given to parents of people not born into this. He also keeps assuring him that it will be worth this waiting they're doing, because they'll be crazy powerful when they're all together.

"We only have one more," Louis says over drinks one night.

"Yeah?" Zayn asks.

"Yep, we're just waiting on our fifth. I keep trying to talk to our three and four, but I think they're already a little annoyed that you and I are already friends," Louis says.

"I don't see how it matters, we'll all be together soon enough," Zayn says.

"Protocol?" Louis says.

"Fuck that," Zayn says.

"Exactly," Louis says, "but we really don't have to wait much longer."

"Do you know anything about our three and four? Which ones they are?" Zayn asks.

"Yeah, we've got a strong guy, Liam, I think? He's big eyed and sort of innocent looking? He's our three," Louis says.

"The Burberry sweater guy?" Zayn asks, and he's had too many drinks to bite back the note of hope in his voice. He might have found himself staring at that guy. Once or twice.

"That's the one. Is that your type?" Louis asks, teasing.

"Possibly," Zayn admits.

"Well good, I feel much less rejected now. If innocent is your type that explains why you and I have never had sex, even with all drinks we've shared," Louis says.

"I don't know if it is or not," Zayn says, gulping down his third drink.

"Let's pretend. It will make me feel better about the one time we did make out but then you fell asleep," Louis says.

"You mixed the drinks that night," Zayn throws back. It had only been their third time drinking together, and Zayn had still been getting used to the whole other people who can do amazing things deal, and Louis had invited him back to his place. It had gotten handsy pretty fast, and somewhere several kisses in Zayn's brain had yelled all sorts of things that he'd gotten lost in, things about finally but also terrible ideas about being _friends_ with Louis being important. Luckily the alcohol really had been strong and the swimming in his brain had turned to fog which had turned into sleeping. Probably for the best, really.

"Fair enough," Louis says, then he grins, "It would make sense if it is, though, if he is. I mean people fall for each other within their stars all the time, and since you don't love me, it only makes sense."

"Yes, he's obviously my soulmate," Zayn says, rolling his eyes.

"He could be!" Louis says.

"Shut up. What about our four?" Zayn says, trying not to turn red.

"A fast guy? Niall. I think he's the blonde Irish one," Louis says.

"And is he your type?" Zayn asks.

"You mock, but these things happen all the time," Louis says.

"Stars are a matchmaker?"

"Not always, sometimes people hate each other even if their gifts mesh really well, and obviously five is an uneven number, but it still happens," Louis says.

"Unless you're into that," Zayn says, giggling a little.

"What?" Louis says.

"Five people together," Zayn says.

"Like a five part romance?" Louis says.

"I was going to say orgy," Zayn says, "but yes."

"It could happen," Louis says.

"A superhero orgy," Zayn giggles. Louis smirks and orders them another round.

"You and your fucking hero fixation," Louis says.

"I'm not the one who can fly," Zayn throws back.

"That is the actual worst comeback ever," Louis says, smirking.

Zayn still doesn't know how he feels about people in general, but he's become really glad that he has Louis.

**  
A few months later Zayn gets a letter instructing him to pack his bags and report to London the next day, and he can't help the excitement that bubbles in his chest at the idea that his life is about to change forever. It already has in so many ways, now that he has Louis, now that he knows there is more out there, but now he's going to actually get to be part of it all, whatever it is. It's the moment he's been waiting for since he was thirteen and the glass sweated on his hand, and he's more than ready.

Louis picks him up in the morning and they fly off, leaving tattoo shops and classmates and little bedrooms that have been rearranged time and time again and everything ordinary about Zayn's life behind. They head to a hall a mile or so from the main hall, and Louis grins at him and they fly in a second story window and into a room with five beds and five dressers and five desks and three closets all set up. The furniture has names on it, the closets too, and Louis beams at him as they land and they toss Zayn's belongings toward the bed with his name on it.

"Welcome to our new home," Louis says.

"Your bed looks nicer than everyone else's," Zayn says, glancing around.

"Legacy," Louis reminds him. His own stuff is already laid out and unpacked. Zayn rolls his eyes.

"So you were right about Liam and Niall," Zayn says, glancing at the names on the other beds, "And it looks like we've also got a Harry."

"Yup. I haven't seen him yet, he must have turned eighteen, like, yesterday or something, our baby," Louis says.

"Three days ago, actually," a voice from the door says, and Louis and Zayn turn around to see a kid with a mop of curly hair looking at them with an amused expression on his face.

"Are you Harry?" Louis asks, and Zayn has to bite back a grin at how positively delighted Louis says.

"I am," Harry says.

"Well, I'm Louis, this is Zayn," Louis says, bounding over to shake Harry's hand.

"Getting started without us?" a voice asks, and two guys carrying luggage, Liam and Niall, walk in. (Louis shoots Zayn a look that Zayn tries to ignore when Liam is, in fact, exactly who they thought he was.) "I'm Niall and I found Liam here in the lobby and you can't start bonding without us!" Niall says.

"Hello, boys!" Louis says, "group hug?" He pulls them all in before they can protest, Liam, Niall and Harry dropping luggage loudly to the floor as they get pulled into a hug and into the general whirlwind that is Louis. Zayn really isn't a group hug sort, but hasn't had time to protest before his brain does that warm thing like when he's moving something.

And then the five of them are floating, feet off the ground, and Niall breathes out,

"Whoa," and they all sort of stare at each other, wide eyed.

"Who's doing this?" Liam asks, searching all their faces.

"I'm not this strong, you've never moved people, right Zayn?" Louis asks.

"I can't do this," Zayn says.

"Maybe it's all of us together, isn't that supposed to make things stronger?" Niall asks.

"Yeah," Louis says, "but I've never seen this before."

"How do we get down?" Zayn asks, looking around, "not that this isn't cool, but we can't stay like this."

"Maybe if we all think about being down, all at once?" Louis says.

"That's good," Harry says, "On three?"

"One, two, three," Louis counts, and Zayn thinks it along with him and hopes everyone else is too and then they all land, softly, feet hitting the ground like coming down from jumping.

"Damn," Zayn says when they land, "is this what being part of a star is going to be like?"

"I don't know," Louis says. He looks a little thrown, which isn't like Louis at all. Zayn wonders if Louis wasn't right all along, if they're not going to be really, really powerful together.

"So, you fly, then?" Liam asks, looking at Louis.

"I do," Louis says, "I heard you're strong?"

"I am," Liam says.

"I'm fast," Niall offers.

"I, um, move things. With my mind," Zayn says.

"Seriously?" Liam asks. Zayn flushes.

"Yeah?" Zayn says.

"That's amazing," Liam says, sounding a little awed.

"Yes, my hair does this naturally," Harry says, looking at Niall, who blinks at him, looking shocked.

"How did you?" Niall asks. Harry grins.

"What's going on?" Louis asks.

"He answered a question I didn't ask out loud!" Niall says.

"You didn't have to say it out loud. I heard it anyway," Harry says. There is a collective intake of breathe around the room at that.

"You can, you can read people's minds?" Niall asks.

"That's really rare," Louis says, Harry shrugs.

"Yeah? Sort of, anyway? It's not normally this strong. Usually I just get feelings or ideas, not whole sentences like that," Harry says.

"Feelings?" Liam asks. Harry nods.

"Like, I work, or I guess worked, at a bakery, and it was more- I knew how much people were going to order and if they wanted something sweet or bread, but not their exact thoughts, things like that? Or, I could tell what kind of day they were having and what they did for a living and if they enjoyed it or not," Harry says, shrugging again.

"But you can hear words with us?" Niall asks.

"More like little sound clips, but yeah," Harry says. Zayn tries to be a good friend and not think too much about the way Louis is flushing at all of that. Although he thinks that since he can tell and he doesn't read minds, Harry is probably on to Louis anyway.

"So, you can read minds more clearly and we floated when we hugged and we've all only just met. Does that happen?" Zayn asks, looking at Louis. Louis shakes his head.

"I think it usually takes weeks of training together for things to start to get stronger," Louis says.

"Louis was born into this," Zayn explains to Liam's raised eyebrow.

"They made us wait too," Louis says, "well, me and Zayn anyway."

"You said you thought that must be because we'd be extra strong together," Zayn reminds him.

"Yeah, but not like this," Louis says.

"So we're… special?" Niall asks.  
"Time will tell," a new voice cuts in, and the five of them turn around to see an older guy looking at them, his face a cross between amused and stern, "right now you're just five boys who have a lot of unpacking and training to do. Please finish unpacking. Now."

**

Training is somehow ten times more amazing than Zayn had been expecting, even when they have to sit and do things like take notes about the history of stars and which ones of have been the most successful and why and about the many accomplishments of Simon, the current UK leader, and the proper terms for everything, and even when some of the accomplishments make him raise his eyebrows a little because he's not sure they sound like they were good- it's all sort of fascinating and Zayn thinks he could just and listen to it all day. It's like living in a superhero movie, no matter what Louis says, and so even when they're being quizzed, Zayn is still thrilled this is his life.

Their powers (or their _extra_ , as instructors are always reminding them- "You have something more than other people, something _extra_ and we feel that all of your extras could work together for something amazing. Don't let us down") are doing new things all the time, exciting things, things Louis says are pretty unheard of, although no one in charge or official has mentioned it to them if that's the case.

Harry's mind reading is still only words now and then, a phrase here and there from the other four, mostly, but he says the feelings are stronger, that he can pick them out in a crowd. More impressively, he's started to be able to do it in reverse. A few weeks into training, he starts to be able to project words directly into people's heads. After a month or so, he gets good enough at it that Zayn will be sitting in class, taking notes, and Harry's slow voice will float into his head, some nonsense message for the five of them that can't wait until later. It's ridiculously cool, actually.

Weirdly, even though Harry can read his feelings and then throw his own words into Zayn's mind, Zayn likes him. He likes all of them. Sometimes he tries to tell himself it's because this whole experience is surreal and amazing and that he just likes being part of all of this, but then he catches himself collapsing against Niall's shoulder, giggling at something that's happened, and it hits him that he's probably friends with these guys now. It's strange, and not just because Zayn isn't used to having friends, but because the other new stars don't behave like them. There are a few other groups there with them, but no one else sits together at all the meals and walks to and from everything together, no one else seems as close. Sometimes Zayn even has trouble remembering who belongs to what star.

Maybe it is because of how strong everything is when they're together, maybe that does bond them in some way Zayn hasn't figured out, because it's not just Harry and it's not just the floating. Niall's speed is becoming a lot more than speed, he's learning to do this thing where if he runs in several circles around the other four at top speed, he can actually stop time for a minute or two. It's still hit or miss- sometimes it doesn't work at all and Niall is just dizzy and he collapses and swears at them all, but other times it works and they have a minute where there is no one but the five of them moving in the whole world. There has to be an exact formula to it, some positioning or number of circles run they haven't worked out yet, but when it works, they all just stare at each other, amazed and hardly breathing.

"We are special," Louis will say, when it works. "I asked my parents, and stopping time is just as rare as Harry's mind reading, and they've never heard of a star that has both, and we have Zayn."

Not that they know what any of that means for them yet, but it's easy, when they make the world stop, to imagine that they have amazing destiny waiting for them, something even more amazing than what's already happening. Sometimes, when time starts coming back, when they can feel it creeping back in and the world starting again, they pull into a group hug again, just to float for a minute, because they're not ready to rejoin the rest of the world yet.

**

Things settle to a sort of normal after that. Niall learns to run so fast he can glide across water and then the five of them come home and drink in their room and share stories. Louis gets more coordinated in the air and then lands almost on top of Harry, laughing as he does. Liam stays up late with Zayn watching every movie about superheroes or kids with magic they can possibly think of.

"We're still not superheroes, or wizards," Louis says every time, turning over in his bed and trying to ignore them.

"We could be," Liam says, smiling directly at Zayn.

"And you're the one who is always saying we're different, that we're special, even here. Maybe the rest of them aren't, but we could be," Harry likes to put in.

It's good and it all just works, and part of Zayn agrees with Harry- that maybe the kind of special they are could change the world. He thinks they all feel it, even if Louis won't say it. (Zayn actually thinks Louis won't say it mostly because he knows it annoys Zayn that he won't. He thinks Louis might feel it even more than the rest of them.)

Louis pulls him out in the hall one night when they're all settling in, Liam pulling out a DVD and Harry and Niall putting pajamas on.

"I hate to interrupt Harry Potter with your soulmate," Louis says, smirking.

"I hate you," Zayn says.

"You would be lost without me," Louis says.

"Why are we in the hall?" Zayn asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I wanted you to be the first to know," Louis says.

 

"The first to know what?" Zayn asks.

"That Harry and I had sex this morning," Louis says, "Well, I mean, I guess technically Harry is the first to know, since he was there."

"This morning?" Zayn asks, closing his eyes a little.

"After that test, you guys took longer than us, so we had time alone," Louis says.

"He thought the answers at you, didn't he?" Zayn asks.

"Are you implying I am not a serious student who would have known them all that quickly all on my own? I'm offended, Zayn," Louis says.

"No you're not," Zayn says.

"You're right, I'm not," Louis grins, "And yes, he might have helped me a little."

"A little," Zayn says.

"Because he loves me," Louis says.

"I'm glad," Zayn says.

"And the sex was amazing," Louis says, smirking.

"Good for you," Zayn says, rolling his eyes a little.

"Sometimes we think filthy things at each other during class or over dinner, and the rest of you have no idea!" Louis says, sounding delighted.

"You just told me. And that's disgusting," Zayn says.

"Jealous?" Louis asks.

"Overwhelmingly," Zayn says. Louis grins at him.

"I keep trying to get Harry to read the things you and Liam are thinking about each other, but he tells me that's an invasion of your privacy. Unethical or something," Louis says.

"He's not wrong," Zayn says.

"His morals are so appealing," Louis says, "sexy as fuck, really."

"I really am glad," Zayn says, because Louis looks sort of starry-eyed talking about Harry's morals.

"Are you?" Louis asks.

"I am," Zayn says. Louis beams and pulls Zayn into a giant hug that ends with a grope, because he's Louis.

"I'll let you get back to whatever bizarre mating dance you and Liam are up to now, I really don't understand the movie thing," Louis says.

"You and Harry cheated on a test for time alone, and Liam and I are doing something bizarre?" Zayn says.

"Hey, at least I'm having sex," Louis says. Zayn rolls his eyes and moves the hood of Louis' shirt up and over his head with his mind. "Cheater," Louis mutters, grinning.

**

Instructors start paying special attention to Zayn after a few months, getting him to move heavier and heavier things all the time. He's working on moving people too; he's started to be able to move himself across spaces and take another person along with him. It hurts his head, but it's really, really satisfying. They want him to be able to move multiple people, want him to be able to lift buildings and shift trees, and that's harder, that makes his head hurt so bad he has to sit down for a while, but he thinks he's getting it.

He's not always sure he wants to, though- or, he is sure, because he wants to be able to do as much as he possibly can, but he's not sure because sometimes when he makes something massively heavy slide across a room with ease, Liam sort of bites his lip and looks a little worried. Not that Liam could be replaced or anything, that's not how stars work- your five is your five for the rest of your life, and if one of you was to die or quit then you'd all forced into retirement, done. The end. (They're reminded all the time, _"You need to watch each other's backs, be careful, because if one of you falls, you all do."_ )

"That's amazing, Zayn. You're getting stronger every day," their favorite instructor, Paul, says one day, and Zayn tries not to flinch or make eye contact with Liam on Paul's use of the word _stronger_.

"I’m not," Zayn says, looking down.

"You are, don't be modest," Paul says. Zayn stares at his feet more, torn between wanting to be the best and not wanting Liam to feel like he's not offering anything.

"You should talk to Liam," Harry thinks at Zayn, words bouncing in his brain and tone sounding like Harry knows something. He shoots Harry a look- he's always forgetting that he can just think things back at Harry. He's not sure how Louis does it, actually. "I keep trying not to know anything, but I keep getting all these feelings from Liam. I haven't concentrated on them, but there is a lot going on," Harry thinks back at Zayn's look. Zayn nods.

**

That night he lifts the two of them up to the roof of the school- sending things vertical is harder than sending them horizontal, and two people is still a challenge, but he thinks it's about as alone as he can possibly get them, and Liam seems to think it's a really good idea, too. They sit with their feet dangling of the roof, looking out over the parts of London they can see, shivering just a little as Zayn pulls out a cigarette. He's unsure of how to start this conversation, which is a little ridiculous since he talks to Liam all the time. He takes a drag of his cigarette and kicks his feet thoughtfully.

"I'm amazed they let superheroes smoke," Liam says after a minute, teasing.

"Ah, but we're not superheroes, remember?" Zayn throws back.

"Yes. We're just guys who can fly and stop time and move things with their thoughts and read minds and we're going to use all this for missions. Which is somehow totally different and not being a superhero at all," Liam says.

"Exactly, it's very different," Zayn says. Liam grins at him, then he bites his lip.

"You don't have to do that, you know," he says.

"Do what?" Zayn asks.

"That thing you did today, it's okay that you're getting to be better at being strong than I am," Liam says.

"Liam-" Zayn starts, but Liam holds up a hand.

"No, I mean you can do things with your mind I can barely do with my body and you're only getting better, but that's okay, that's amazing and you should be proud," Liam says.

"I'm not, I mean, you're better," Zayn says. Liam shakes his head.

"No, I'm not, but I don't need to be. We don't need me to be," Liam says.

"We need you," Zayn says, instantly, "even if I can move whole cities with my mind, we need you. Like, it's like with Louis. Flying is amazing, but Niall can run across oceans and I can lift vertically now, even if it sort of hurts, so we really mostly need Louis because he's _Louis_ and he's sort of in charge and we need you too because-" Zayn says, rambles really. Liam kicks his foot against his,

"Hey," he says, interrupting a little, "I know. That's not what I meant. I meant- can I show you something?"

"Yeah," Zayn says, a little lost. Liam swallows and lifts his hand then puts it back down.

"I've been thinking, noticing, that I don't think being strong is actually my extra thing. I mean, I'm stronger than most people and all, but I also- how is your head?" Liam says.

"My head?" Zayn asks.

"With all the training today and then getting us up here, your head hurts, right?" Liam asks.

"Yeah," Zayn says. Liam swallows again and picks his hand back up and this time he reaches up and a hand across Zayn's forehead and presses and makes a face like he's concentrating. Zayn's head gets warm, like when he's moving something, but then instead of a click the warmth sort of spreads and hits him all over and the pain in his head fades completely. Liam jerks his hand back and blushes,

"Did you feel that?" Liam asks.

"Fuck," Zayn breathes, "how?"

"So that's a yes?" Liam asks, grinning a little. Zayn puts out his cigarette and reaches up to touch the spot on his head where Liam's hand had been.

"My head doesn't hurt at all anymore," Zayn says. Liam beams.

"I think that's what I do," Liam says, then he glances at Zayn's arm, at a small bruise he'd gotten in training earlier. Zayn follows his eyes. Liam reaches out to touch Zayn again, running a thumb over the small bruise. Everything gets warm again, and then Liam pulls his hand away and the bruise is gone. Zayn gapes at Liam for a long minute.

"You can heal people," Zayn breathes out. Liam nods.

"I can. I mean, I hadn't tried it on anyone but myself until now, but I think that's my real extra, you know? I think this is what I'm supposed to do in the star," Liam says.

"That's amazing, Li," Zayn says, "why haven't you told anyone?"

"I wasn't sure it would work until I trieed it on you. I mean, I was pretty sure, and I think I can probably do it on Harry and Niall and Louis too, I feel like I can, but I'm not sure how much or if it's people outside our star or what," Liam says.

"Yeah, but healing," Zayn says.

"I don't know how far it goes, I mean maybe it's just headaches and cuts and small bruises," Liam says, but he's beaming.

"You taught yourself to do all that on your own, though, without the rest of us around while you're were trying. You can probably cure diseases. You could actually change the world," Zayn says. Liam flushes.

"You think I should tell everyone?" Liam asks.

"Yes," Zayn says.

"Okay," Liam says.

"Why me first?" Zayn asks. Liam grins.

"Because you're Zayn," Liam says, and then he leans his head down on Zayn's shoulder and reaches for his hand. They lace fingers and Zayn tries to breathe. They sit like that, in silence, fingers laced, looking out into the night for awhile, quiet and thinking, Zayn half wishing he was Harry and could know what Liam was thinking and half thinking he's never been more content in his life.

 

**

Louis freaks out when Liam tells everyone else. He freaks out and zooms to the ceiling and sits on the fan blades of their ceiling light, which is probably a little over dramatic, but then, he is Louis.

"This is unheard of," Louis says.

"How do you know?" Niall asks.

"I was born into this, I know these things," Louis says.

"You only know test answers when Harry gives them to you," Zayn says. Louis glares at him.

"I know this, though. This kind of power, this many rare gifts in one star? This doesn't happen," Louis says, running his hands through his hair.

"Isn't that good?" Niall asks.

"I don't understand why they haven't said anything," Louis says.

"What do you mean?" Liam asks.

"We're doing things I've never heard of and we fucking float when we hug and Liam can heal people and they have to have some plan for us and I don't know what it is," Louis says.

"Couldn't we do whatever we wanted?" Harry says. Louis blinks at him and sinks back down to the floor.

"What?" He says.

"Well, if we're so powerful, once we perfect it all, won't we be able to call the shots?" Harry asks.

"Maybe that's why no one has said anything," Zayn says.

"You think that because we're so unheard of, so powerful, they don't want us to know yet, because they're afraid we won't do what they tell us if they do?" Liam asks.

"We wouldn't have to, would we?" Niall asks.

"Maybe they're scared of us," Louis says, looking at the other four with something close to wonder his eyes.

"Maybe they should be," Harry says.

"We should," Zayn says, then he stops, "we probably shouldn't plan a revolt before our first mission."

"We should wait until there is trouble?" Harry throws back.

"There might not be," Liam says.

"They did put us together, right?" Niall says, "If they didn't want us to be so powerful, maybe they'd have spilt us up."

"Or maybe they underestimated us," Harry says. He looks tense and Zayn can almost see the thoughts he's shooting Louis.

"We should be prepared, either way," Louis says after a minute. They all nod, and when Louis reaches out for everyone they all huddle in, breathing in each other.

**

Cher, a girl from one of the stars in training with them, throws a party a few weeks before the end of their training. They've got missions that double as final exams coming up, and no one knows what theirs will be and nerves are high. The party is at a bar only a few blocks from their hall, a bar they have completely to themselves to the night.

"How did you swing this?" Louis asks when the five of them waltz in, pulling Cher into a giant hug. Cher grins,

"I talked to the owner. I can be," she pauses, "persuasive."

"Are you admitting to a misuse of your extra?" Louis asks, smirking.

"Are you going to tell on me?" Cher throws back.

"We should hang out with you more," Louis says.

"I wouldn't want to interrupt," Cher says, teasing.

"Interrupt?" Harry asks, like he's not gripping Louis' hand.

"You boys are so cute," Cher says, gesturing among the five of them, "we're all terribly jealous."

"As you should be," Louis says.

"There are drinks to be had at this, right?" Niall asks, cutting in. Cher grins again and gestures toward the stocked and ready looking bar.

"Let's go make Liam have fun," Harry says, Liam pulls on Harry's hair in protest and the five of them head off toward the bar, Cher laughing behind them.

"You know I shouldn't," Liam protests at the drink Louis sticks in his hand. Louis rolls his eyes and leans into Liam, so close their foreheads are touching, catching Zayn's eye as he does.

"Liam, darling? You can heal people. Your body has probably already healed that faulty kidney of yours. No excuses," Louis says.

"I hate when you make a good point," Liam says, blushing.

"We all do," Niall says.

"I do not know why I put up with being underappreciated like this!" Louis mock huffs.

"I think Harry appreciates you enough for all of us," Zayn says. Louis grins.

"Do you?" he says to Harry. Harry responds by licking Louis' neck. Louis flushes and Zayn grins watching them.

"Hey," Liam says in his ear, "dance with me?"

"Kay," Zayn says, allowing himself to be led to the dance floor and ignoring the look Louis sends his way. "I'm not very good," he admits when they get there.

"Just follow me," Liam says, and the two of them slide into an easy rhythm, hips and hands gliding to the slow beats. They stay locked together for several songs, not talking, just being.

"Do you think they're really scared of us?" Liam asks after a few minutes, voice hushed.

"I don't know," Zayn says. Liam bites his lip.

"I snuck into Louis' parents' library when we were there the other day," Liam says.

"What?" Zayn asks.

"Harry and Louis were off doing god knows what, and Niall was making friends with the cook, and you feel asleep, and it seemed like a good time so I just snuck in. I was reading their books, things I don't think we're supposed to see until we get officially initiated after the final, maybe not even for years after that," Liam says.

"And?" Zayn asks.

"Harry might be right," Liam says.

"How do you mean?"

"Everything seems to be run like it's a corporation, like a company, all these missions? They all seem to be in the interest of Simon or whoever is in charge, not like, what is best for the rest of the world? I mean, they make a lot of money and it just seems- I didn't like how it felt reading it?" Liam says.

"But no one is sent to do bad things, right? The missions aren't awful?" Zayn asks.

"Not that I saw, but I didn't feel like they were good, either," Liam says. Zayn nods.

"What do we do?" he asks. Liam shrugs.

"I don't know, we probably shouldn't talk about it here. It's sort of a party downer, I'm sorry," he says.

"No, I'm glad you told me," Zayn says.

"You'll help me tell everyone else?" Liam says.

"Of course," Zayn says. Liam grins up at him, then shifts closer, his hips brushing against Zayn's.

"They did bring us together," Liam says.

"The five of us," Zayn says. Liam shakes his head.

"I meant me and you," he says. Zayn clutches the fabric of Liam's shirt.

"Liam," he says, eyes searching Liam's face. Liam grins and he leans up and then his lips are on Zayn's, soft but sure, and Zayn pulls him in, kissing back.

"Finally," Harry's voice says in his head, probably in Liam's too. Zayn ignores him and focuses on keeping Liam as close as possible, kissing him for as long as possibly. When they pull back, grinning at each other, Zayn looks down and grins broader.

"We're floating," he says against Liam's lips, kicking his feet against Liam's a little.

"I noticed," Liam says, sounding breathless but happy, "we should get more drinks."

"Why is that?" Zayn says.

"You should get me drunk. Then pull me into a dark corner," Liam says, smirking.

"Can I pull you into a dark corner and then get you drunk?" Zayn asks as they think their feet back to the ground.

"We could do it that way," Liam says.

Zayn tugs him off to a corner and kisses him until all thoughts of books in libraries and things they shouldn't know are gone. Kisses him until everyone else he's ever kissed in his life fades away like nothing, fades away like the pain in his head had under Liam's touch.

**

Their final assignment and first mission is left for them in an envelope under their door. Louis pulls it out and looks at all of them, searching their faces. They'd decided, talking about what Liam had read, to judge based on their first assignment. Zayn isn't sure if they're being sensible or if they're just afraid, but Harry's been muttering for weeks about all the things they could do, should do, with their extras.

"Open it," Harry says, looking at Louis.

"Do it," Niall says.

"Is it stupid to hold hands first?" Liam asks.

"No," Zayn says, and everyone else shakes their heads and they clasp hands and look at Louis. He looks back at them all, swallows, and opens the envelope. He reads quickly, and then glances back up at all of them.

"We don't have a mission," he says.

"What?" Harry asks.

"It just says we have to go the main hall and meet with them," Louis says.

"Maybe they just want to give it to us in person?" Niall suggests.

"I don't think that's how this works," Louis says, "It says we have an hour to report. Can you get us there now, Zayn?"

"Probably," Zayn nods, "I've moved us all several blocks before. This isn't that much farther."

"Why now if they're giving us an hour?" Liam says.

"To catch them off guard," Harry says, catching Louis' eye. Louis nods.

"Zayn?" he says. Zayn nods and closes his eyes and waits for the click and the warmth and a few seconds later the five of them are standing in the main hall. His head throbs, but they made it.

"Li?" he says, and Liam gets it and sticks a palm on Zayn's forehead. Zayn breathes and waits for the pain to fade.

"Sorry," Louis says, watching.

"I'm fine," Zayn says, straightening up and shaking his head. He grabs Liam's head and squeezes it tight.

"Is there a mood in here, Harry?" Louis says, eyes on Harry, "What do you feel?"

"I don't think they know we're here yet, but I think they're mad," Harry says. Louis nods. They all grip hands and walk slowly toward the conference room.

"You are not as special as you think you are," a voice says when they walk in. A large man Zayn has never seen before is glaring at them. He raises an eyebrow as he talks, and Harry thinks at them that they did catch this guy off guard. Zayn is glad that at least have that.

"Then why are we here?" Louis asks.

"You are here because you have already broken more rules than any other star I can think of and we cannot let you go on your first mission without a serious talk," the guy says.

"What rules?" Louis asks, gripping Harry and Zayn's hands tightly.

"Well for one, you picked Mr. Malik up on the night of his eighteenth birthday and socialized with him long before your star was formed," the man says.

"So?" Louis says, but Zayn can feel his pulse speeding up.

"And you looked at the files to see who else was coming to your star! And you have all engaged in consumption of alcohol, risking exposing yourself to the general public!" the guy says, standing up and glaring at them.

"Everyone does that," Louis says.

"Careful," Harry thinks at all of them. Zayn looks over and tries not to wince at how pale Harry looks.

"And you have inter-dated with in your star before leaving training, without permission, and all of your members are male!" the guy says.

"My parents met in their star! Half of their friends met in their star!" Louis says.

"That is different," the man says- and that's when Harry thinks _Simon_ at them and Zayn squeezes Liam hand on his other side, trying not to panic.

"How?" Louis challenges, low and dangerous.

"You know how. You also must know that I have heard that you have been saying things, assuming that five boys who barely know how to control their abilities think they know better than people who have been doing this for decades what the best use of them is," Simon says.

"They're our extras," Louis says defiantly.

"Why should you get to choose how we use what we have? Why isn't it up to us?" Harry says, bold, from Louis' other side.

"We do not let individuals make their own choices about these things. We have found it leads to abuse of power and general chaos," Simon says.

"This meeting is abuse of power," Liam says, barely audible.

"It wouldn't be individual, it would be the five of us," Louis says.

"Yeah," Niall puts in, "we're great together."

"Yes, and we put you together," Simon says, "you can't just change how things are because you don't like it."

"Why not?" Zayn says.

"What do you think you'll be able to do on your own?" Simon says.

"Change the world," Harry says.

"You are naive children, and you will do what you are told, you will follow the rules," Simon says.

"And if we don't?" Louis asks.

"You will. You will behave, you will cease inter-dating, you will complete you missions, that we will keep simple, and you will do as you are told," Simon says.

"I don't think we can do that," Louis says.

"I'm sure we can't," Harry says.

"You are children," Simon repeats, "you have no idea what you're doing,"

"I think we do," Liam says.

"I think you're scared," Niall adds.

"Because you can't actually make us," Louis finishes.

"You would be losing the support of this organization, you would be on your own, and you would fail. When you fail we will not take you back," Simon says.

"We're winning," Harry thinks at them. Out loud he says, "Good. We won't come back."

"We won't fail," Niall says.

"We don't need you," Louis says.

"You have no idea what you're doing," Simon says again.

"Niall! Time!" Harry thinks, suddenly urgent at them. Niall nods and makes laps around them until the world stops.

"There are guards outside the door," Harry says when it's just them.

"Guards?" Zayn asks.

"We're wearing him down, but he still doesn't want to let us leave. I think they are scared of us. We are more powerful. And he doesn't even know all that we can do, he has no idea Niall can do that, or that Liam can heal," Harry says.

"He can't not let us leave," Liam says.

"He can try," Harry says, "our first mission was going to be get a forest zoned for a factory, by the way. I think we were supposed to move protected things out the way and I was supposed to think at them and then maybe intimidate them."

"Well that's almost insultingly cliché," Louis says, wrinkling his nose.

"Exactly," Harry says.

"So are we doing this? Leaving?" Niall asks, "We have about three more minutes to decide."

"Do they know Zayn can get us in and out of here?" Louis asks Harry.

"No, I don't think so," Harry says.

"Are you up for that?" Louis asks.

"Where are we going? We can't go back to our hall, and I'd have to grab our stuff too," Zayn says.

"My step-dad has a bungalow in the countryside, we'd be safe there for at least a little while, I think," Harry says.

"You have to give me more than countryside," Zayn says.

"Two minutes, guys," Niall says. Harry nods and closes his eyes like he's concentrating and then a clear image of a house flashes into to Zayn's mind, burns in, like he's been there before, like he's known it all his life.

"Did you get that?" Harry asks.

"Yeah," Zayn says.

"So we're going?" Liam asks.

"I think we have to," Louis says, "Yeah?"

"We're going to change the world," Harry says.

"You're a mind reader, not a psychic," Zayn says, not because he doesn't agree, but because he's nervous.

"I still know it," Harry says.

"Alright, boys. Let's go be superheroes," Louis says, and he beams at Zayn as he says it, and then Liam says,

"Off to our secret hideout?" And Zayn nods and knows they're going to be okay, so much more than okay.

They're going to change the world. He concentrates on the picture Harry's sent him, waits for the click, and hopes this works. His head goes warm just as the world starts to come back, and they vanish.

**

He wakes up on an unfamiliar couch, Liam's hand on his head.

"Hey," Liam says.

"What?" Zayn says, lost.

"You did it, we're here," Liam says, beaming him.

"I did?" Zayn asks.

"You were amazing," Liam says, "you passed out as soon as we got here, but we made it."

"To our secret hideout?" Zayn asks, smiling. Liam grins back and then leans down to kiss him, and Zayn feels recharged instantly, ready to save the world.

"We did it!" Niall says, coming into the room and plopping down half on top of Liam and Zayn.

"We did," Harry agrees, pulling Louis in. The two of them look a little disheveled, and Harry thinks "Victory sex." at Zayn's raised eyebrow.

"Fair enough," Zayn says back, out loud, grinning at them.

"So, we have plans to make, a world to save," Louis says, grinning at them.

"Can we discuss them over dinner? There's stuff to grill in the fridge, and we've earned it," Niall says.

"He makes an excellent point, motion passed," Louis says.

They all head off to kitchen, Harry doing most of the cooking, and they even if they haven't really done anything yet, even if it's going to hard, even he doesn't really know how they're going go about saving the world- this moment, standing in the kitchen, kissing Liam occasionally, feels like the one he's been waiting for since the night of his thirteenth birthday, the moment it all becomes more. They're going to do this, on their own terms. The five of them, the friends he never knew he wanted, the guy who just might be his soulmate. This is it.

He's ready. They're ready.

They've got a world to change.

**  



End file.
